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January 2019 LSAT advice after Rough November
korokyahaha
Yearly Member
Hi Everyone,
I recently made a post about the severe anxiety I encountered during this previous administration and wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful advice. I plan on addressing this problem with my doctor and hopefully he will be able to point me in the right direction.
Anyways for the upcoming January LSAT, what should my schedule look like until then? I went in to November scoring where I wanted to be although I suppose it wouldn't hurt to earn a few more points in RC. With that one exception I figure I have the skills and knowledge necessary to hit my target. So my questions are:
1) When should I hit the books and start studying again?
2) What should my study regime roughly look like?
3) Any other pieces of wisdom?
If someone is able to help with even one of these questions it would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Linked is my previous post for reference
https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/18534/how-to-overcome-lsat-panic-anxiety
Comments
First of all, it's great that you're going to talk to your doctor. I had severe anxiety for years and my doctor was able to help me a lot.
1) Whenever you feel like it, but don't put it off for a crazy long time. Basically, if you feel ready to jump back in in a day or two, go for it! But if you need a couple weeks to recover/rest, I think that's totally fine too. I wouldn't take more than a few weeks off though or it might be harder to get back into the mindset.
2) Since you were scoring where you'd like to on the real thing, I don't think you need to make a lot of big changes to whatever you were doing before. Focus on building confidence as much as you can. Take PTs under sucky conditions (like a coffee shop or somewhere where you might have a bit more noise/be less comfortable) so that you know you can handle whatever test day throws at you. Use an experimental section and try to sometimes put it in an inconvenient spot- for example, on the real thing you might have two RC sections in a row so you want to be able to do that without throwing off your game. Develop your test morning routine if you haven't already done so, and stick to it.
3) Remember that you can do it. You've done it on your PTs, so you are absolutely capable of scoring how you want.
Hey, I can relate a lot to your situation. My anxiety during the first section on the test was ridiculous. I'm going to be taking practice tests in horrible spots (coffee shop, library with kids running around) going forward.
What are your plans on when you are going to apply? I might submit my apps this cycle and expect to apply next cycle too.
I can totally relate to this post, Anxiety can be a crushing barrier to success on the LSAT. Some anxiety is fine, but if your "fight or flight" response is triggered due to too much anxiety, your body will release adrenaline and your brain will essentially cease to function properly. It sounds like you wrote the lsat 3 times, was the anxiety always as bad as the last time or is it getting worse?
I would start by separating two different problems here, one is not understanding certain material or question types, and the other is understanding, but being unable to cope with stress during the examination and causing that to prevent you from even applying yourself at all.
I had this happen to me during the September test, i ended up getting minus 13 on RC despite getting minus 6 or less during all my preptests. For me, going into Novembers test, i had to do a huge amount of mental unpacking of that anxiety. Essentially what i realized was that, to get through the test, i had to stop caring so much if i did well.
I think a lot of the anxiety that surrounds this test is rooted in putting too much weight on it's importance. The honest truth is that, even though we all want to be lawyers, probably for many of us, going into law school might actually be a bad idea. We would be happier if we didn't. We all think law school is whats best for us, but perhaps even a large minority or majority of us are wrong. Many of us, if we don't attend law school, will go on to be successful, happy people in whatever we attempt. You might be one of those people, and not doing well on the LSAT might secretly be the best thing that ever happened to you. Furthermore, no single LSAT is going to define or chances at getting into law school, theres always another chance. Not doing well on the LSAT does not mean your not intelligent, and definitely doesn't mean you wont be successful. Wrapping my head around these ideas was critical to my success in November. By the second section i felt comfortable and in my element, i was able to relax. The bottom line is that what I really want in life is to be happy, confident good person who tries my best every day. I want to do well on the LSAT, but i don't need it.
I would suggest getting yourself up to a point where your happy with your ability to reason out questions, and once the only thing standing in your way is the actual execution of the test, just allowing yourself to move on with your life an focus on other things, warm up a few days before and go and write. This is what worked for me - i was PTing in the low 170s and only needed a 165-167 so i just stopped studying the same questions over and over again and just allowed myself to forget about the lsat until a few days before. I refused to let myself think about it too much, didn't scour the forums, didn't get everything ready for the test a week in advance, i just treated it like a random university exam i had studied plenty for and stopping putting it on a petisal. I reminded myself its not that important, and law school is just one of many potential paths to happiness for my life. I felt a ton of anxiety, but it wasn't so bad because i hadn't spent weeks obsessing over it like i did before.
I feel bad for you, i know its really brutal when you know you have what it takes to do well but you just can't seem to execute on test day. Definitely don't give up. But i would suggest setting the goal of "letting go" a bit about the outcome and the importance of this test. This is just what worked for me, it might be totally different for you. Let me know if this sounds like it might be helpful or you have any more questions about my experience!
Don’t do any timed sections a week before the test. Do drills, but don’t time yourself. If you’re like me, you’re going to put a lot of pressure on yourself and try to get your best score ever, but that will only make you do worse, because of the stress. Then, with your lower score, your confidence goes down, anxiety goes up, etc. Just enjoy that week and have fun with games, reading passages, and LR questions.
Thanks so much for the replies and good vibes all!
Unfortunately my family has given me the ultimatum of applying no later than this cycle. I graduated college in 2017 and was told I need to get rolling with my future. Depending on my top score and how much scholarship it would yield by applying early next cycle perhaps may impact their decision.
Yes it has. For my first two takes I chalked it up to lack of preparation. However since June I have gone above and beyond as explained in my first post and saw massive improvements going into the test. I went into November with unbreakable confidence and no negative thoughts and still crashed in the first 10 seconds. I am seeing my doctor next week and am hoping he can point me in the right direction. Anxiety to this degree is unknown territory to me as I have never come close to feeling as I did during these tests
I know someone who got approved for accomidations due to severe test anxiety without a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, since this has happened to you multiple times it seems fair and appropriate and could be something you could try. You are unlikely to get extra time but might get approved for breaks between sections, if you say you will use this time to meditate, which might help with anxiety. There are also some short lasting anxiety medication, the problem is that they make you feel woozy/drunk almost and might impare your ability to write the test properly, but side effects are different for everyone and they are definitely worth a shot.
Holistically CBT (cognative behavioral therapy) is used to control thought and can be quite effective. Meditation can also control anxiety and there are plenty of free meditation apps. I would suggest trying a 4 pronged attack!
what I was suggesting above is essentially CBT. you try and reframe the test mentally so you reduce the anxiety.
You got this. Family adding pressure probably isnt helping. Have you been bombing or is your score still good enough for most schools?
None of my business but unless my family was going to pay for law school I would tell them it’s none of their business when I go, be it this year or next year. I think it’s absurd to push a 23 year old into a permanent, life changing decision, one that involves a potentially 200,000$ price tag. On top of it, I’m sure the added pressure doesn’t make the lsat any easier. Really sorry you’re going through that.
@"Sam Tyler" Can you tell us more about your friend's accommodation? How he applied for it, whether he got a doctor's recommendation, etc.
I've bombed them hard. My highest score is 150 while I'm PTing in the mid-160's and blind reviewing in the 170's. This just makes this whole process much more disheartening as I know I have the aptitude to succeed but I'm continually sabotaged by something outside my control.
Yeah it's rough around the house as I was expected to go to law school immediately after graduating undergrad but my poor test scores have prevented me from doing so. My grandparents have offered to pay for my tuition to anywhere but it pains me so much knowing that they shouldn't have to. I've spent a year with my life revolved around this test so I'd be able to go to a decent school without having to use my families money. Thanks for your concern
I totally hear you----my parents are pushing me to apply this cycle as well. I think parents hate seeing us struggle with what they see as just a test and not move on with our lives. We spend so much of our days on this stuff, we go through so much pain based on not performing as well as we want. No one wants to see their kids suffer so much right? But the reality is that the LSAT is one of those rare cases where a test can actually have a huge impact on our futures.
This is what I am doing while I wait for the Nov score: I'm preparing my personal statement and continuing to do logic games each day. I think the logic game skill can go away pretty fast and by doing a section a day, I'm keeping those skills sharp. I'm not sure what my plan for LR and RC is yet.
For that logic game anxiety, perhaps this chart from this discussion will help you: https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/18359
My anxiety wasn't AS bad in LG because I followed the process from the chart and hopefully that will help you too. Having a plan helps when you can't make inferences on your own due to panic.
He went to his doctor, and his doctor documented but to the best of my knowledge there was no official diagnosis of anxiety disorders. He got ten minutes between sections to do CBT and meditation to deal with the test anxiety.
He had attempted the lsat and bombed due to anxiety once before on file as well. Im pretty sure he also had to write some sort of statement to LSAC explaining his situation
Hey there,
If you can recognize when you're feeling anxiety then you'll be able to control it. Pay attention when you're taking the exams and flag the moments that make you anxious. Go back and re-evaluate what made you feel that way. Maybe you recognized it was a challenging question, or perhaps the stimulus was dense. I think recognizing these things can help adjust your mental state help you get back to focusing when you're feeling anxious.
Also, ask for support from your family. Tell them the pressure hasn't help and it's interfering with your ability to concentrate. These things might help!